Riding to the Rescue
by The Girl From Gallifrey
Summary: Sequel to In Need of a Hero. Set a year after the first story ends. Ranger and Stephanie are building their home and giving their relationship a try. Is it finally Lester's turn to find "The One"?
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer- I am not making any money off of any of these characters. Everything I write is for fun and shouldn't be taken seriously. Janet Evanovich is the owner of the copyright for most of these characters and no matter how sad it makes me I can't change it. But I can use them and abuse them as I see fit as long as I return them to her at the end.**_

**Manoso Quints Baby Blog**

**Here is the nearly 1 year checkup update!**

**Armando AKA Manny**

**Weight: 19 lb 2 oz  
Height: 29.5 inches  
Walking: YES  
Teeth: 4**

**Manny is the most inventive of the bunch. He is often the first one to figure out how a new toy works. He also was the first to figure out how to get into the kitchen cupboards. That was fun. I had to lock up all of the cupboards but the one with the pans because if I didn't he would wail until he was able to get into the cupboard. He tries to use brushes and combs to "brush" his hair. His hair that once stood straight up in dark curls now lays completely flat, so he almost looks like a different baby. He is still a "mama's boy", but he is getting a little better.**

**Alejandro AKA Andy**

**Weight: 17 lb 2 oz  
Height: 28.25 inches  
Walking: NO  
Teeth: 5**

**Andy is trying to take over Manny's spot as "mama's boy". He is my most snuggly baby. He has a great smile and is the easiest baby to make laugh. He also has a stubborn streak-he is a boy who knows what he wants. He has the longest and the darkest hair of everybody. You can always tell where Andy sat at mealtime because he likes to secretly throw things overboard when he thinks no one is looking. He also hates getting in the water at the swimming pool and he as an aversion to having his picture taken.**

**Ricardo AKA Ricky**

**Weight: 14 lb 9 oz  
Height: 27.75 inches  
Walking: YES  
Teeth: 5**

Ricky is the most easy-going and content of all the babies. He is often happy to play by himself and doesn't require a lot of attention. He isn't usually the instigator of a fight, but if someone takes his toy, he will put up quite a fight. Ricky has gone from the biggest of the babies to the littlest by being the pickiest eater. He likes to put random toys up to his ear and pretend it is a phone. When he wakes up from his naps, instead of crying, he practices his walking skills in his crib until I come get him. He likes to babble and most of what he says sounds like "tickle, tickle, tickle." He sometimes uses a "fake" laugh to try to be funny.

**Matteo AKA Matt**

**Weight: 19 lb 10 oz  
Height: 29.25 inches  
Walking: YES  
Teeth: 2**

Matt is the most determined one. He was the first to crawl and the first to walk. If he sees something that he wants, will go over anything or anyone to get it. Matteo is my best eater. He will eat almost anything that I give him. He is also the most tactile. He likes to feel different textures. He likes to make "oooh oooh oooh" noises that sound like a monkey or a caveman. He isn't very cuddly, but when he gives you a hug, it is a big one. He is also the most excitable of the babies. He loves to point at things and say 'Ook mum.' Ook is quickly becoming the most used word they use thanks to Matteo.

**Vincenzo AKA Vince**

**Weight: 19 lb 10 oz  
Height: 29.25 inches  
Walking: YES  
Teeth: 4**

Vince is the charmer. He is the most high-maintenance of the group and likes to have someone giving him attention all the time. I am sure there are days when he wishes he had come as a singleton instead of a quint! He has a great smile and can be very adorable when he wants to be. Like Manny, he is quick to figure out how things work. He loves to sing and dance along to any music that is playing. He is a born superstar, but then that is probably a mother's bias talking.

**A few months ago, I decided I better write down all my memories of the babies' births before I started forgetting the little details. Now that the babies are just 11 days away from their first birthday, I thought it was a good time to put the finishing touches on the story and share it! It is amazing how much has happened in the last year. Looking at the babies now, it is hard to believe that they were ever that small!**

**Birth Story**

**Preparing for a C-section was something I don't really remember. First the area around where the c-section would take place had to be shaved. Then I had to get 2 IVs. I also had my final weigh-in. In all, I gained 69 pounds during the pregnancy, and I was 54 inches around. I am only 62 inches tall, so I was nearly as big around as I am tall.**

**Around 1:30 am, I started to have what we thought was a placental abruption. Turns out I was just bleeding really heavily from the strain of the birth. I blacked out for a minute until they got the bleeding under control. The nurses took me down to the Labor and Delivery area where Ranger was already there waiting for me.**

**Around 2:15, Joe and Gina got back from getting my overnight bag and the babies' first outfits from the house. Everyone was so excited. They would all be in a special waiting room with TV screens showing the babies after they were born.**

**The delivery room was packed with people. Each baby required its own team of three people. For myself, there was my doctor (Dr. Harker), the resident who was performing the delivery (Dr. Hoff), a fellow doctor from the practice who was assisting, the anesthesiologist, and a couple of nurses. Then there was Ranger, and even a person whose sole responsibility was to record the babies birth times. (That is at least 25 people!)**

**The delivery room itself was divided into two parts. The surgery took place in the main room. The other part, sectioned off by glass windows, was where the bassinets waited for the babies.**

**Once in the delivery room, I met the Anesthesiologist who gave me an epidural. Because I was so large, I had to be numbed from the chest down. This was such a strange sensation. I felt like I was suffocating because I couldn't feel my chest moving up and down, and yet if I looked at the monitors, I could see that I was breathing just fine. The anesthesiologist was awesome-he just kept reassuring me that everything was fine throughout the entire delivery. After the epidural was in, they laid me down and strapped my arms to a board. At first I thought this seemed unnecessary, but then I realized that I the medication caused me to shake uncontrollably, so having my arms secured was a good idea. At this point, they put up the blue cloth so that I really couldn't see what was going on. **

**Ranger sat near my head and held my hand. In his lap, he held his cell phone with his mom on speakerphone so she could hear the delivery. I was surprised when only a few moments later I heard the doctor say they were ready to make the first cut. He called the time at 3:12 am.**

**Five minutes later, at 8:17 a.m. Ricky was born. I heard him cry, and then moments later Dr. Harker held him up for me to see. I couldn't believe it! He looked beautiful and perfect and he was huge! Much bigger than I had imagined in my mind. I couldn't figure out how five that size could have fit in me. He turned out to be the heaviest of them all. Next to come was Matteo. He ended up being the smallest of the bunch, in contrast to Ricky, but he was just as perfectly formed and beautiful. Then Vince, Manny and Andy followed. As each baby was born, I was amazed and completely overwhelmed with emotions. I was so happy to see all of the babies look so perfect and healthy and I was in awe at the miracle of it all. After all the months of anticipation, it was over in less than three minutes. The doctor held each one up for me to see, then the babies were passed to the nurses who took them into the partitioned room to be checked out by the nurses and doctors in there.**

**8:17 am Baby A: Ricky, 5 lbs 1 oz**

**8:18 am Baby B: Matteo, 2 lbs 15 oz**

**8:18 am Baby C: Vince, 4 lbs 15 oz**

**8:19 am Baby D: Manny, 4 lbs 2 oz**

**8:19 am Baby E: Andy, 3 lbs 15 oz**

**Most of the crowd left with the babies, and I was left with my set of doctors and nurses in the operating room to be sewn back together. Of course I couldn't see anything that was going on the other side of the curtain, but Dr. Hoff later told me that they had to take my uterus out and set it on top of my abdomen to massage it and encourage it to start shrinking. After a singleton delivery, the uterus is about the size of a fist. Mine was the size of a football. Dr. Hoff also said that she put some stitches on my uterus that made it look like it had suspenders.**

Once I was sewn back together, they took me back to the recovery room. I was so exhausted that I slept for almost an entire hour. When I woke up I was a little groggy still and couldn't remember much of what had happened after I blacked out.

**Ironically, once the surgery was over and I was allowed to eat again, I had absolutely no appetite. It was amazing how much smaller my stomach was. I still looked pregnant (in fact the first thing Olivia said to me when she saw me after the delivery was, "How come they left a baby in there?"), but I was a lot smaller than I was, and I could actually sit up at a 90 degree angle again! Now that the babies were out, my body didn't know quite what to do, and my kidneys decided to stop working. I was put on the magnesium sulfate (something I had done my best to avoid the last couple weeks of the pregnancy after a bad bout of it early on) and given some other medications to get my kidneys going again.**

**The guys surprised me by going up to get my dad that day. He came down and got to hold his grandsons. I don't think he could've been happier. My mom and sister surprised me the most when they showed up. Joe and Gina went to talk with them and I cried when my mom and sister each held a baby. Lula went out and bought five little black preemie suits for the boys to get their first pictures taken in. (The clothes that I had bought were way too big even though I ordered them in the smallest size they had.)**

**When Ella and Louis showed up I cried for what had to be the fifth or sixth time. Ella had made each baby a tiny black sleeper with Future Rangeman embroidered on the chest. She said she had another set ready to go to put their names on the butts of them. **

**I found those outfits in the bottom of a drawer today and laughed as I remembered how tiny the boys used to be. Now they are almost one and spoiled rotten by everyone. **

_**Most of the Content found in this chapter was compiled through blogs of parents raising quints. There will be more to come. **_


	2. She's Having My Baby

Chapter 1

"Hello?" I answered breathlessly. Andy and Matteo were playing tug of war with a cat. I don't know where the cat came from or why it was in the house, but somehow my boys found it and decided to play with it. I'm just glad they didn't put it in their mouths. Or…that I didn't see them put it in their mouths.

"Hey Steph it's Gina." A husky female voice replied.

"Hey! What's up?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go down to Jill's tonight." She replied.

"Yes. Oh yes yes yes. I need a night out of the house. Ranger is supposed to take the boys tonight so that would be great!" I just happened to look up and see Armando climbing up the entertainment center to push the buttons on the TV.

"Armando Luis! What do you think you are doing? You are gonna break your neck you monkey! No touching anything silver!" I picked him up and sat him on the floor in front of his bubble mower and he happily went about his business 'mowing' the carpet of the living room.

"I'm sorry about that. What time did you want to head out?" I suddenly remembered the woman on the phone.

"Um…how about 9? That way you can make sure the boys get to bed on time instead of falling asleep to the guys playing Xbox all night." She said with a chuckle.

"That only happened once. That I know of at least." I sighed. "The guys aren't the best babysitters in the world, but they mean well and they love the boys. At least I'll be home to feed them breakfast this time."

"Yeah…for some reason I don't think you want to find the boys eating cookies, fruity pebbles and hot dogs for breakfast." Gina laughed. I just shook my head remembering the boys' oreo faces shoveling hot dogs in their mouths. What a nutritious breakfast they had that morning.

"Ok, I've got to get the boys' lunch together. The guys said they were actually making it an early day and they are supposed to be here soon. Does Joe work tonight?" I picked Armando off of the entertainment center again and put him in his pack and play for a time out while I rounded up all the boys for lunch. His wails could be heard through the phone.

"No he has the night off. Olivia is spending the night at a friends house so he is going to have the house to himself."

"You want me to ask the guys if he can come over and play with them?" I laughed.

"If you want. Honestly I think he'll be happy to just have a night to himself. I've been a bit of a crab lately. I thought it was PMS but I haven't started yet."

"Are you pregnant?" I asked as I put Matteo in his high chair.

"I don't know. I might be. Can I come over to your place and take the test before Joe sees it? I don't want to get his hopes up if it is negative."

"Why didn't you tell me you guys were trying to have a baby?" I asked slightly hurt.

"Well…we weren't really actively trying to have one, we just didn't prevent the possibility. I think he wants a baby of his own. He helps out with the boys all the time and I think he wants a baby to give his name to. Olivia's dad has been jerking us around about letting Joe adopt her and I think that we are settled enough that a baby wouldn't exactly be a bad thing you know?"

"Oh Gina! I'm so excited for you. Give me a half hour or so and I'll have the boys down for their naps. You can come take it while I clean up before my nap. If it is good news we shall celebrate with a glass of milk and some triple chocolate layer cake."

"Being a domestic goddess really suits you Stephanie. Ok, I'll see you in a few. Get those little heathens fed and in bed." She gave a laugh and I could hear her nerves. Good for them. I looked at my boys quietly eating their grilled ham and cheese and thought about whether I would be excited to have another baby. I never really thought about having kids before, but I wouldn't trade my boys for anything.

They taught me real unconditional love. "Ook Mum. Ook." Ricky pointed to the mashed up sandwich on his plate.

"I see that baby. Eat up. You are gonna grow big and strong and handsome. All of you."

"Dat. Un Dat." Vince pointed to his sippy cup on the table. I gave them each their cups and sat back and watched them. One of my favorite parts of the day was watching them eat. They inherited my love for food definitely. With each bite they would talk to each other in their little baby language and laugh at each other's antics. I hated the cleanup, but the actual mealtime was fun. When their lunches became more mess than meal I took away the trays and began the process of wiping each boy down and putting them their pack and plays. I turned The Wonderpets on and they watched it for a moment while I cleaned up the mess in the dining room and washed down the high chair trays. I was heating up the bottles with their ounce of breast milk when Gina knocked on the kitchen door.

"Come in. I have the boys all settled in the living room. I just have to give them their bahs and they'll be out like a light."

"I can't believe you are doing this by yourself. I remember thinking how much of a handful Olivia was and she was just a single baby."

"It is all a matter of routine. I even made the guys a handbook. They tried to develop a strategy to dealing with them when they were alone, but my mom, Ella, and Momma Rita helped me make them a handbook after the night of sleeping to an Xbox and a morning of hot dogs and Oreos."

"You made an instruction manual for your children." She laughed. "That is priceless. You should publish it."

I just chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. "It is called the daddy-sitter survival guide. It has lists of acceptable foods for each meal, planned activities, tips for making bath and bedtime easier, and emergency phone numbers."

"Sounds like you might need to make Joe one if this comes back with a little pink plus sign. Will you take one with me? Please? I just don't want to feel like I'm doing this alone." She swallowed thick enough that I could see it.

"Go ahead and use the upstairs bathroom. I'll use the downstairs after I give the boys these and then I'll come up and we'll find out together ok?"

"Thank you Stephanie." Gina smiled and set a test on the table before she ran up the stairs. As soon as I gave them their bottles they laid down with their eyes still glued to the TV. They were only allowed to watch three Nick Jr. shows a day so I didn't feel like a bad mother for using the TV as a baby sitter. I peed on the stick, scrubbed my hands and grabbed the baby monitor before I hurried up the stairs to see what the result was.

Gina opened up the bathroom door and we sat on the edge of the tub with them between us watching to see what color they would turn. They had just finished processing when we heard "Oh hell" come from the doorway. We were too enthralled with seeing what the results would be that we didn't hear Ranger, Lester and Joe come up the stairs. All three stood in the doorway with identical looks of anxious horror on their faces.

_I'm sooo sorry. I wanted to keep going, but I have to work tomorrow. 1 more workday before I go on Vacation! Not really going anywhere, but it will give me plenty of time to write. _


	3. I Need You Now

_**Disclaimer- I am not making any money off of any of these characters. Everything I write is for fun and shouldn't be taken seriously. Janet Evanovich is the owner of the copyright for most of these characters and no matter how sad it makes me I can't change it. But I can use them and abuse them as I see fit as long as I return them to her at the end.**_

Chapter 2

"This is soo not what it looks like!" I blurted before I could help myself.

"Well it looks like you and Gina have something you might like to announce." Ranger said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well actually, I just took one for moral support. I'm not pregnant, see?" I showed the test to the guys.

"That looks like a positive one to me." Lester coughed into his hand. I looked down at horror at the test in my hand and back to the one sitting on the edge of the tub.

"Oh. Oh God. I picked up the wrong one. Thank Jesus. That would have been bad." I let out a relieved breath. "Sorry Gina." I said after I realized how tactless I had sounded.

"Gina?" Joe questioned stepping into the tiny bathroom. I skirted around him and out into the hallway dragging Lester and Ranger with me. This was a private moment to be shared between a husband and a wife. I was happy to see that Gina was right about Joe's reaction to having a baby. He looked as though he could barely believe it was true. Happiness was written on his face.

"I almost had a heart attack when I saw you holding that positive test Stephanie." Lester joked. "It was hard enough getting you through the first one without you maiming or killing one of us. Another would have been torture this close after the boys.

"Oh you loved every minute of watching me get fat. You guys had an excuse to coddle me and after I got put on limited activities you guys had more cupcakes and cookies than you knew what to do with." I punched him in his arm.

"Yes, so much so that I gained sympathy weight with you." He joked some more.

"You keep that up and I'll make sure you lose some weight in an area where I bet less isn't more." I threatened. I was still a little sensitive about how much weight I had gained during my pregnancy.

"Is there anything left over from lunch? I'm starved." Lester said.

"There is some tomato soup in a labeled container in the refrigerator and three more ham and cheese sandwiches ready to be grilled. The griddle should still be hot."

"You are a goddess supreme Sugar." Lester said blowing kisses my way.

"Yeah yeah I love you too." I laughed and pushed him toward the stairs. "It is my naptime. Go eat lunch. I'll see you in a few." I stepped into my bedroom and laid down on top of the covers. The July heat was sweltering, but inside the air conditioning felt cool on my bare skin and had me drifting to sleep in no time at all. I thought I would wake up to the sound of babies laughing and playing on the monitor, but instead I woke to deep rumbling voices.

"I don't know if we should have tried to make a go of things Les." I heard Ranger say.

"That is bull man, Stephanie loves you and you love her and you have five handsome children together. Why shouldn't you have made a go of it?" Lester replied.

"I think that maybe I just messed up too bad when I left. She has been amazing. Hasn't said a word to me about it, but I know she has to still think about it sometimes. I mean, I can't even joke around like you guys were earlier because I wasn't here the entire time she was pregnant. I missed holding her hair while she puked, massaging her feet when they were sore and swollen, I missed the boys' first kicks, I missed the ultrasound where I found out that she was having five babies! I never get the little inside jokes you guys tell about that time and it was all my own fault."

"Well there will probably be other pregnancies. I mean Stephanie has to be one of the best moms I've ever known. No matter how much she fought it, she was born for this." I kind of agreed with him. I was great at being a mom. It was something that I felt proud to do. I fought it for years, but when push came to shove I found out that raising children is a job that has more benefits than anything else.

"Stephanie doesn't want any more kids. You saw the look on her face when you told her that test was positive. She nearly had a coronary." Yeah, probably because I already have five that aren't even a year old yet, I thought to myself while rolling my eyes.

"I still don't think I'm understanding you. None of that explains why you think that you and Stephanie shouldn't have tried to have a relationship." Lester pointed out.

"I have been wondering lately what would have happened if I had not come back. If I had left the bar after I saw who Momma was talking about." My heart tightened in my chest.

"You are stupid man. A freaking idiot. You think you would have learned from past mistakes. Yours and mine both." Lester growled. "You have one of the most amazing women in the world and five awesome boys with her. Why would you even let a thought like not having them cross your mind?"

"Because I thought maybe she would be better off with you. You weren't scared about the possibility of her loving you. You sucked it up. You even proposed to her. She accepted."

"Is this because she turned down your spur of the moment proposal after the boys were born?" Lester accused.

"Partly. I mean, I don't know where I stand with her any more. I used to have no problem figuring out what was going on in that pretty little head of hers, but lately it seems like she is a completely different person. She used to need me to be around, now I think she does better without me here."

"That is the kind of thinking that got you into trouble in the first place. You left. There is nothing in the world that we can do to change that. You are here now though and I think you should make the best of the situation like Stephanie is trying to do. Take things a day at a time like she suggested before you whipped out your caveman proposal."

"I've tried taking things slow, but it bothers me that she hasn't even said 'I love you' to me since the night the boys were conceived. I've asked her to move in with me and she has turned me down time and time again." Ranger began.

"Because the house still isn't finished and your one bedroom penthouse apartment in the office isn't the most ideal place for five infants. They barely fit here." Lester pointed out.

"That isn't the point. The point is I think that Stephanie thinks I'm going to run away again if things get serious and she is trying to keep herself distanced."

"Isn't that what you were just talking about?" Lester asked.

"No. I could never leave again. I love these boys too much. I love Stephanie too much to think about living without her. I want to marry her and wake up with her in my arms every morning for the rest of my life. I want to watch our children grow up and find women of their own to love as much as I love their mother."

"So marrying her isn't just about giving your kids a name then?" Lester asked.

"No. God, no. Stephanie made sure the hospitals put my name on the birth certificates. I didn't even have to ask her, she just did it. That is one of the things that I love about her. She is selfless and forgiving." Ranger reassured.

"Then maybe you should tell her that instead of me. Tell her how you really feel about her and ask her again. I bet you her answer will change." I didn't hear Ranger's response. From the rustling of fabric I figured that they must have walked out of the living room. I laid in bed for a few minutes longer with an unstoppable smile on my face. He didn't think I needed him anymore did he? Well I guess I just have to show him how much he is needed in my life. My plotting was interrupted by a wail from Vince. In the confusion I forgot to give him his Tylenol before bedtime and he woke up with pain in his ear again. The rest of the boys woke up seconds later crying just as loud as Vince and I couldn't help but give an evil little smile as I thought about the perfect time to show Ranger how needed he could be.


End file.
